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Thursday, 17 April 2014

Nigella's Nutella cake

I feel like I should rename this blog ‘mbakes with chocolate’.

EVERYTHING has chocolate, I’m sorry if you’re getting sick of it. Am I trying to assert my femininity by using it? Dear god I hope not.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I have visions of rubbing chocolate into the pores of my face and I fear it may actually be cheaper than my Lancome ‘Tient Idole Ultra’ (what?) – which makes it all the more feasible and non-weird.

I polished off a poor man’s Magnum and a crème egg half an hour before falling into sleep induced coma yesterday. It may or may not have been my lowest point, albeit the moment I forgot how to write a good sentence.

This cake is definitely an ode to Easter, it would be perfect as an alternative to simnel cake or hot cross buns if you’re gluten intolerant, but I’d risk it for a bite of these friedhot cross donuts.

The Nutella cake is very rich in flavour and every scant forkful is as decadent as the next. Perfect reasoning for massively underexposing the photographs! You can can taste the darkness, yes?

This is a proper adult’s cake, by the way. We gave a hefty slice to my eight year old cousin and I could almost feel her dismay when she clocked on to the (sweet) bitterness. Oh, to be young. Happy Easter!

Nutella Cake {Gluten Free}

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess: Torta Alla Gianduia

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

6 seperated eggs

125g unsalted butter, softened

400g jar Nutella

1 tbsp water

100g ground skin-on hazelnuts or almonds

100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

For the ganache

125ml double cream

125g dark chocolate, chopped

1 tbsp golden syrup

100g hazelnuts, toasted and halved

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/fan 160˚C/gas 4. Grease and line an 8" bottomless cake tin. Whisk the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl until stiff peaks form. In another bowl beat together the butter and Nutella until smooth, then whisk in the water and egg yolks, followed by ground nuts and melted chocolate. Add 1 tbsp of egg white and roughy mix to loosen the batter. Fold in the rest of the egg whites bit by bit, trying not to knock out any air. Pour into the tin and bake for 40 minutes until the sides start to shrink and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Meanwhile, for the topping, heat the cream in a saucepan until barely simmering. Take off the heat and add the chocolate and syrup. Leave to stand for five minutes, then stir until smooth. Spread on the cooled cake and decorate with the hazlenuts.